Reaching You: One Day
by BookwormJC
Summary: Sawako Kuronuma never expected that her life was going to change so dramatically after being told that her family's moving to America. One thing just led to another. However, the lies and feelings of betrayal still linger around. What would become of Shouta and Sawako's relationship, and what would happen with this new guy in the picture?
1. Prologue

**A/N:**

******Hello. For those who are reading this, this is my first story on this site, so I wonder if I did well with this.**

******You should know is that this story starts a few months after the end of the anime, around the time when they finish their second year of high school. Anything that happened after that in the manga wouldn't happen in this story, even though I like that more than the anime, in my opinion. **

******I would consider this a Semi-AU, since even though it uses a few canon characters, those characters may be slightly OOC. It also features a few OCs, some of them being major characters in this story. In fact, I can tell you that five new characters will be introduced in the coming chapters. Therefore, I wouldn't imagine this actually happening in the series.**

**Personally, I'm proud with how this went so far. With that said, I hope you enjoy the story.**

**By the way, I don't own Kimi ni Todoke.**

* * *

**Reaching You: One Day**

Prologue

**_2 days before the last one_**

_Five second year students were sitting in a classroom at Kitahoro High School long after the classes had ended, somewhere around 4:00PM. Four of them crowded around one desk, while one person, who looked like the ringleader of the group, sat on the desk itself._

_From the looks of it, they were really tired, as they were gasping for air after running away from somewhere. Earlier, they were tormenting a certain girl, who attended the same school, but they had to run away, due to certain circumstances._

_"Great…" one of the girls complained, disappointed by the results of what they did. "If it didn't happen the way it did, we would've taught that girl a lesson!"_

_All of a sudden, the "ringleader" sitting on the desk faced that girl; her long, wavy, chocolate-brown hair swaying dramatically from the swift motion. She looked at that girl with fiery eyes of determination._

_"Don't worry…" she said confidently in a spitefully quiet voice, soft enough for only the other four to hear. "I've got this worked out…"_

_"…And how have you got it worked out?" one of the other girls around her said, curious about her friends methods._

_After wickedly giggling to herself, she stated in that same voice, "You know how she is. She's gullible, am I right?" While the others nodded their heads in agreement, she pulled out a piece of paper and pen from the book bag that rested against her lap. "We just need these two things to pull this off… and then, he'll be free from her grasp…"_

_From the door, another girl walked away after hearing what she needed to hear._

* * *

**TBC**


	2. News

**Reaching You: One Day  
**

Chapter 1: News

* * *

_**3 school days before the last one…**_

Sawako Kuronuma, a timid, yet polite sixteen year old girl with long black hair, clutched her book bag tightly as she walked home with her close friends, Chizuru Yoshida and Ayane Yano. She initially had a few, if not any, friends due to her appearance, which earned her the nickname "Sadako", after the character from "The Ring".

However, that all changed because of Shouta Kazehaya, a seventeen year old guy who can be described as popular and warm-hearted. He attended the same school as her. After hanging out with him, Sawako didn't seem to be as frightening anymore, in the eyes of some of her classmates. In fact, some of them thought of her as a good luck charm. As she hung out with him, along with her other friends, feelings started to grow more and more, and eventually, Sawako and Shouta became an official couple, much to the dismay of other girls who were infatuated with him.

* * *

"Yano-chin! Sawako! Can't you believe that we're going to be third years soon?" Chizuru said excitedly with a smile on her face while swinging her book bag back and forth.

"I can't believe it either, Chizu," Ayane said maturely and calmly.

While they walked down the street, Sawako felt a small, but continuous vibration in her pocket. She dug her hands into them and picked up a pink cell phone and answered the call.

"Sawako, can you come home right now? Your father has something important to tell you," Sawako's mother said in a lively tone.

"Okay," Sawako said softly to her mother before hanging up.

"Chizu-chan, Ayane-chan, I have to go home now," Sawako said shyly as she put her phone back into her pocket.

"Really," Chizuru complained in disappointment. "I wanted to take you two out for ramen…"

"S-Sorry, I- I should've been more considerate…" she apologized nervously while bowing in front of them. "P-Please forgive me…"

"It's okay, Sawako. I wouldn't have gone too. Otherwise, she'd get me fat." Ayane reassured sarcastically.

"Anyways, Have a safe trip home," Sawako said courteously before running to her house.

However, as she ran home, she noticed something peculiar; something that wasn't there when she went to school. It was a sign, posted neatly on the gate. It had the words "FOR SALE" displayed on it in a thick, red font, written in Japanese. As soon as she saw that, she ran straight to the door and went inside to see both her parents. Her mother seemed less lively than usual while her father, who was usually at work during this time of day, looked a lot more serious than usual.

"Mom… Dad… why is there a for sale sign at our house?" Sawako asked even though she know, since the answer was quite obvious.

"Sawako, dear," her mother said, sounding sympathetic as if she knew Sawako's reaction to this. "Your father got a promotion at work and…"

"… and that promotion requires us to move to America," Sawako's father continued in a solemn tone.

Those words registered into Sawako's mind as the mood around the room became stiff. Sawako's heart pounded against her chest due to the tension. Her parents looked at her, feeling sorry for the poor girl. Wanting to break the silence, her mother began to speak.

"Sawako," her mother said seriously. "I know it may be hard on you, but we've made up our minds. Your father and I are definitely moving to America."

Sawako was on the verge of tears. She had finally gotten friends after so many years of being alone. If she went to America, she wouldn't be able to see Ayane, Chizuru, Ryu and especially… Kazehaya. What was she going to say to him? Would they have to maintain a long-distance relationship? She felt tears flowing out of her eyes, falling delicately towards the ground. Then, she fell onto her knees and covered her face with her hands, clutching the skin tightly as she cried louder and louder.

"But…" Sawako tried to say, but it was muffled by her hands.

"Sawako," her father interrupted, pulling his only daughter up. "It may be hard on me, but even though we got three tickets, your mother and I decided that you can either choose to stay here in Japan or come with us to America, since you might want to stay here." He was, too, on the verge of tears.

After that, she took her hands off her face, stood up and said, "S-Sorry," politely bowing in front of her parents before running upstairs into her darkly lit room. She crouched on the floor, grabbing her pillow and crying into it

"_W-What should I do?" _Sawako thought. _"I-I don't want to leave my parents, but I don't want to leave my friends either. A-After all that has happened, I don't want to lose them all. What about Kazehaya-kun? I-I just don't know what to do!"_

* * *

_**2 days before the last one…**_

Yesterday's events were still on her mind. The fact that her parents are moving to America bothered her greatly. She wanted to stay in Japan, but how would her parents take it? What was she going to tell them? Things like _"Why do I have to be such a bad daughter?" _were running throughout her mind.

Sawako looked at her desk dejectedly, still vividly remembering yesterday's events, ignoring all the people around her.

"Kuronuma," Sawako turned around upon hearing that kind and refreshing voice that belongs to none other than Shouta Kazehaya, Sawako's boyfriend.

"W-What is it?" she stuttered, ignoring her previous thoughts.

"Well, you know, I was wondering if you want to go on a date with me after school…" Shouta smiled confidently.

"U-Um… O-Of c-c-course, Kazehaya-kun!" Sawako immediately exclaimed in excitement, albeit rather nervously.

"Great," Shouta cheered as he walked back to Joe and the others. "After school, meet me at that place where we first met, okay?"

As he walked off, Sawako stood up and walked out of the classroom to go to the library, as school wouldn't start until after about thirty minutes. As she walked there, someone suddenly grabbed her shoulder. Assuming that it was Ayane and Chizuru, she turned around, but it turned out to be Yuka and her group of friends.

"Sadako!" Yuka, a girl about Sawako's age with curly, chocolate brown hair, cried. "Do you know how much trouble you've been causing to the girls in this school or are you just that stupid?"

Yuka was head-over-heels in love with Shouta ever since she was in middle school. Her friends also liked Shouta. During their first year in high school, Yuka and her group of friends heard some rumours about Sawako and started bullying her in the girls' washroom, which didn't end as well for them. Then, when they found about Kazehaya and Sawako being a couple, they yelled at Sawako. That didn't end in their favour either. Even though it appeared that they moved on at the time, in truth, they just haven't. They were still in love with that _refreshing guy_ who was the boyfriend of that_ creepy girl_.

"W-What?" Sawako said in disbelief after a brief pause.

After scoffing, one of Yuka's friends shouted at her. "You really are that stupid!" While she said that, Yuka came towards Sawako and pinned her to the wall.

"Ever since you started dating Kazehaya, you've made almost every girl in the school miserable?" Yuka screamed at her face.

After a second or two of thought, Sawako looked at them, eyes wide open. _"I-I made almost every girl in the school… miserable?" _she thought, wondering if the girls were saddened by her dating Shouta.

"Sadako! Listen to me!" Yuka said, annoyed at Sawako's slowness. In response, she swiftly pushed Sawako to the ground in one quick motion and said, "You're such an idiot!"

Yuka then raised her hand so that she can slap Sawako across the face in order to "slap some sense into her", but all of a sudden, one of the girls yelled out to them, "Hey! Kazehaya's coming! We don't want him to catch us hitting that _creepy girl_, do we?"

"You're right," Yuka said hastily. "Sadako! We didn't have enough time to teach you a lesson, but don't forget! We'll be back."

That was when they ran towards the other direction. As Sawako stood up from the ground, she noticed Kazehaya, who was walking up the stairs looking quite worried.

"Kuronuma!" he asked worriedy. "What happened? Are you okay? I heard a loud commotion over there?"

"I'm fine, Kazehaya-kun. Don't worry." she said, unwilling to make Kazehaya hate them.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure!" she reassured.

* * *

After a while, the school bell rang, signalling all of the students to go to their classes. During Sawako's class, their homeroom teacher, Kazuichi Arai or "Pin", kept on blabbing on about his "awesomeness", taking up the entire lecture. In fact, everyone was either annoyed or just plain tired of hearing him talk for the day that they just looked at the window, seeing the rain falling down hardly, creating large puddles everywhere.

When the rain stopped, class happened to be over at the same time. People left the classroom, continuing their lives for the day. However, Sawako slowly packed her things and walked out of the school building, not encountering Chizuru, Ayane or anybody else on the way out.

As she walked towards the place where she first met Shouta, she noticed all the puddles all over the place. They were quite large, due to the amount of rain that fell during school.

"_I'm almost there…" _Sawako thought as she was approaching that place. Sawako was excited about the date, since she, of course, really wanted to spend time with her boyfriend.

From afar, she saw someone standing there. Thinking it was Shouta, she ran towards there until she was close enough to the silhouette of the person.

"I-I'm sorry that y-you had to wait for me…" Sawako bowed apologetically.

Expecting to see Shouta smile and say it was okay, Sawako was quite surprised when she heard a voice completely different from Shouta. The person stepped out, revealing that it was somebody else. The person walked towards Sawako with a smirk on her face.

* * *

**TBC**


	3. Change

**Reaching You: One Day**

Chapter 2: Change

* * *

Her curly, chocolate-brown hair swayed in the wind as she took each step towards Sawako. Four of her friends followed her, all of them smiling frighteningly.

"Sadako," one of them said, imitating a creepy voice. "We're back…"

Then, Sawako remembered what happened in the morning, when those girls ganged up on her. Sawako started backing up, unwilling to face them after what happened. Of course, she was also unwilling to cause any trouble, as she didn't want to make them feel more miserable, as they mentioned in their previous meeting.

"Yuka…"

Yuka then lunged towards Sawako and grabbed a chunk of her hair, yanking it as hard as she can while she walked somewhere, as if it was a leash. Sawako screamed as the tugging against her hair was completely painful. She tried to carefully push Yuka off, but Yuka's friend all grabbed one of her arms and pulled her along with Yuka.

"Stop it!" she cried softly, yet loud enough for them to hear. "Please let go!"

They ignored her, pulling her until they reached a rather large puddle, about a few inches deep. The water inside was murky brown and it had a few cherry blossom petals floating on top of it.

"W-What are you doing?" Sawako cried, trying to pull herself away.

Yet again, they ignored her. They just pulled her until they reached the edge of the puddle. They all had menacing looks on their faces, while Sawako tried to force herself out, as she knew exactly what they were going to do.

"Push her in!" Yuka yelled as her friends pushed Sawako into the really large puddle, just like Sawako thought they were going to do.

Sawako landed on all fours inside the murky puddle, making her pants of her school uniform dirty. Sawako was almost on the verge of tears, but that didn't stop the girls from doing more.

"Stupid Sadako," Yuka laughed mockingly. "You brought this upon yourself. If you never dated Kazehaya, none of this would've ever happened, am I right?" Yuka put her face at the same level as Sawako's. The other girls giggled cruelly at Sawako, while kicking some of the puddle water towards Sawako's face, also wetting her uniform top even more.

Sawako felt tears glide down her cheeks as the girls tormented her even more. She just couldn't take it anymore. She then started to sob uncontrollably, wiping her tears with her dirty sleeve.

There were many thoughts running through her mind. She thought that Kazehaya would show up and save her, like a prince saving the princess from the clutches of the evil queen. However, it seemed that he wasn't there yet because of some reason.

As the tears flooded past her eyes, all she muttered was, "Kazehaya-kun…" It was really soft, but it was loud enough for the girls to hear.

"Hey!" Yuka yelled at Sawako. "Say that again!"

"Kazehaya-kun… Help me…" Sawako cried softly, yet louder than before.

All of a sudden, Yuka began to giggle somewhat wickedly.

"Did you hear that?" Yuka asked the girls. "Did you hear what she just said? She's such a moron. I can't see Kazehaya anywhere, so why bother, Sadako?" One of the other girls walked up to Sawako and slapped her across the cheek, causing Sawako to flinch and cry harder.

"Just so you know, I'm pretty sure that Kazehaya never liked you," she angrily told her. "He only dated you because you were a complete loner! Now that you have friends, break up with him!"

"Liar…" Sawako immediately cried afterwards, facing the ground on all fours. "You're a liar! Kazehaya wouldn't…"

Despite what Sawako said, Yuka crouched down and pushed Sawako's face into the puddle for a brief second. Sawako tried to spit out the puddle water out of her mouth.

"Shut up, you moron…" Yuka yelled. "How can you be so stupid? Just break up with him and we'll leave you alone." Yuka looked at Sawako cruelly.

"But…"

"That's enough!" a man yelled from behind the girls. "You shouldn't mistreat her!"

All of a sudden, the girls noticed the person and ran away, unwilling for anybody to tell people about what happened. However, Yuka only said to Sawako rather angrily, "Sadako, you moron! I'll prove to you that Kazehaya never liked you!"

Then, the man stepped closer to Sawako. Sawako looked up at him, wiping her tears away with her already dirty sleeve, wondering if it was her boyfriend, Shouta.

However, it turned out that it wasn't him. The man was slightly taller than him and had an athletic build. He had brown hair that was medium in length. Sawako looked at his eyes, which were, too, brown in colour. While she gazed into his eyes, she felt a sense of security, as well as some sort of refreshing feeling around him, just like what would happen when she were to around Shouta.

The man crouched down and looked Sawako right in the eye and asked, "Are you okay, miss?"

While looking at him, Sawako realized that he asked her a question, which she ignored, due to the tears that were continuing to fall down her face.

"I take it as a no, I guess," he said almost cheerfully, as if he was trying to make Sawako feel better. If that was the case, it didn't work, as Sawako was still crying. He looked at her, wondering what to do to cheer her up.

"Here," the man said as he unzipped his jacket and wrapped it around Sawako. "Take this."

Sawako didn't say anything, as she was still hurt by what Yuka and the others had done. The man just looked at her and smiled.

"Goodbye," he said refreshingly. "I hope to see you again someday!" Sawako didn't really pay attention to him saying those words to her as she was still quite traumatized.

Then, Sawako realized, knowing that she had been rude by not listening, and instantly stood up, saying, "Thank you for the jacket, but I can't take something that's yours…" However, the man was already gone. Despite this, she felt really grateful about what he did, despite not knowing her at all.

"_Who is he?"_ Sawako mentally asked herself as she decided to walk back home, forgetting that she had a date with Shouta.

* * *

_**1 day before the last one…**_

It was the day before her parents were going to move to America. She wasn't thinking much except for what happened when she waited for Shouta. Sawako could vividly remember what Yuka and the girls did to her, as well as what occurred afterwards, when that guy gave her his jacket.

That guy happened to intrigue Sawako, not just because he helped her, but he seemed to not be scared of her, kind of like her boyfriend. She thought things such as "Who was that person who helped me that day?" and "Why did he help someone like me?"

However, to Sawako, he was just a thought that was in her mind, but it was a thought that came into her mind a lot.

She was at her shoe locker, since she just arrived at the school. While she was taking off her shoes, she started wondering about what Kazehaya thought when she left without him knowing. Was he disappointed? Was he worried? As she pondered about that, she felt a hand tap her shoulder. In order to see who it was, she turned around. The person turned out to be Shouta, the one who she was just thinking about.

"K-K-Kuronuma!" he told her nervously, but apologetically. "S-Sorry about yesterday. I-I had to do something and I completely forgot. Please, forgive me."

"I-It's alright, K-K-Kazehaya-kun!" Sawako instantly said, also in a nervous tone.

Then came a moment of awkward silence, where both not only had nothing to talk about, but they didn't want to say anything that could make the other person feel awkward. Consequently, that just made things even more awkward between the two of them. After about half a minute of silence between the two of them, they broke it.

"Ummm…" Sawako said softly and quietly, seeming unconfident.

"Well…" Kazehaya said quietly as he stuttered. "See ya…"

With that, Sawako watched him run to Joe and his friends, who were talking really loudly. As Shouta left, Sawako began to have thoughts like _"What happened?" _and _"Why were things awkward between the two of us?" _ She really wanted to talk to him more, but she began to think that Kazehaya didn't really want to talk with her, so she just kept the thought to herself so that she wouldn't be a bother to him.

* * *

After class, when the bell rang, Sawako noticed most of her classmates leaving the classroom. As she looked around, she noticed Ayane and Chizuru walking towards her.

"Hey, Sawako!" Chizuru exclaimed cheerfully as she stopped by her desk. "Do you want to go shopping with Yano-chin and me? After that, we can get some ramen! Whaddya say?"

As much as she wanted to go with her friends, she really couldn't as she had to help her mom and dad pack some items that they're going to bring to America. However, when she was going to tell them that she can't all of a sudden, Tomo and Ekko, two of Sawako's classmates who befriended her, ran into the room.

"Sadako?" Tomo ran past the desks to Sawako, Ayane and Chizuru. "Is it true? Did you and Kazehaya break up?"

"What?" Sawako replied, bewildered.

"Apparently, people are saying that Kazehaya left a note in your shoe locker and that…" Ekko added in, seeming a bit worried.

Right then, Sawako stood up and stood in front of them, startling Tomo and Ekko, as well as Ayane and Chizuru. After bowing and saying, "Excuse me," she ran out of the classroom and down the stairs, running towards her shoe locker. As she was approaching her locker, she noticed a small crowd near her locker, appearing to look through her stuff. Their emotions varied, ranging from worry to relief. However, they all became frightened when they noticed her running.

"Sadako!" one girl exclaimed nervously.

"Excuse me," Sawako told her softly, but quickly as she looked into her locker.

Inside were not only her shoes, but a note that was folded in half. She took it out and unfolded it carefully. She then quickly scanned the words written on the paper. As she read it, her eyes widened in shock as her hands were shaking. Then, her eyes began to tear up and slide down her face, probably because that note had deeply upset her.

"_No," _she thought, seeming really shocked at what was in the note. _"This can't be happening…"_

Sawako read the note again, hoping that this wasn't reality at all. However, she still read the exact same words.

"_**Kuronuma, I think we should break up...**_

_**Shouta Kazehaya…"**_

* * *

**TBC**


	4. Decision

**Reaching You: One Day**

Chapter 3: Decision

* * *

"_No," _she thought, seeming really shocked at what was in the note. _"This can't be happening…"_

Sawako read the note again, hoping that this wasn't reality at all. However, it still read those exact same words.

"_**Kuronuma, I think we should break up...**_

_**From Shouta Kazehaya…"**_

Sawako was right at her shoe locker, kneeling on the ground crying into her hands. She was trying to control the amount of tears flowing out of her eyes, but they just wouldn't stop. She was too trying to control the sound that came as a result of her sobs, but they just became louder. Some of the people who were there left, mostly out of fear, as Sawako happened to look quite frightening as she cried.

"_It's not possible…" _Sawako repeated in her mind over and over. _"It can't be true… It just can't…"_

"Sawako!" she heard Chizuru say from behind. "You never answered my question! Do you want to go with Yano-chin and me to…"

"Sorry," Sawako stood up and immediately bowed towards Chizuru and quickly put on her shoes, grabbed her bag, and ran out of the building.

Chizuru just stood there, confused. She just saw Sawako crying by her shoe locker and then, she saw her running away after she came there.

"What was that about?" Chizuru said to herself.

Then, she noticed that piece of paper on the ground; probably the one that Ekko mentioned earlier. Out of curiosity, she reached for the paper and read the words written neatly on the lined piece of paper. After she scanned every word, she gasped a bit and held the note tightly in her hands.

"No way…" she said to herself, shocked that Kazehaya would write such a thing. She always thought that he really loved and cherished Sawako, but now that she found this letter, she began to think that it probably wasn't the case. She could understand why Sawako left the school in tears.

"Chizu," a voice said from behind. "What's that in your hand?"

Chizuru turned around, knowing perfectly well that it was Ayane, and answered, "What do you think? It's a piece of paper."

"Of course I know that!" she told her sternly. "But what's written on it?"

"Yano-chin," Chizuru told her, believing that it would be right for her to know about what happened to Sawako. She handed the paper to Ayane. "I think you should read this…"

After reading every word, she just looked at the note. She was also shocked at what was written on it. She knew very well that Shouta loved Sawako so much, so it didn't make any sense at all for him to write this to her. It simply didn't add up.

"This has to be some sort of joke…" Ayane muttered to Chizuru. "There's no way that Kazehaya would write this to Sawako."

"Yano-chin, I think you're right," Chizuru uttered. "There's got to be someone behind this…"

* * *

As soon as she began to feel tired, Sawako decided to just walk all the way home, hoping that nobody was following her. Not many tears were falling from her face, but it was still quite obvious that she was crying. Sawako never expected that her boyfriend would break up with her, so it was expected that she would react this way.

However, the more she thought about it, she started to remember what happened when Shouta came to apologize to her for forgetting to go to her date. After that moment, things just became awkward between the two of them, prompting Kazehaya to just leave.

As she thought more about, the more she began to blame herself for the break-up. The thoughts that were mainly running across her head mostly came along the lines of _"D-Did K-Kazehaya-kun break up with me… because I was too awkward around him?"_

Another fresh round of tears began to fall from her eyes once again, but she tried to wipe them off as fast as she can, as she was almost at her house.

"_I've got to snap out of it…" _she thought. _"I shouldn't worry mom and dad by walking in like this…"_

As she neared the house, she began to ponder whether she would move to America with her mom and dad, since they were leaving the next day. She really in the mood to see Kazehaya, and she wondered if she would ever be.

"_Would it just be better if I just left?" _she thought, not wanting things to become more awkward between her and Shouta, since he's her ex-boyfriend. She believed that they broke up because they were too awkward to the point where Shouta thought that they should just stop going out. _"I can't take all of this pain in my heart… and if I just moved away, Kazehaya-kun wouldn't feel so awkward anymore… He can just go back to being that refreshing guy that captivated my heart…"_

She was right at the front gate of her house and the last of her tears fell. As she was wiping them away, her mom popped out of the door and greeted her cheerfully.

"Sawako," her mother said. "You're back already? Come in!"

"Of course, mom," she said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

As she walked inside, she saw her father grabbing some boxes to the front of the house. When he noticed her, he almost instantly noticed that she just cried, due to the redness around her eyes. At that moment, he was really worried.

"What happened, Sawako?" he said, concerned about what happened to his daughter.

"N-nothing, dad," Sawako replied, unwilling to worry him even further. "Mom, dad, I think I should just pack now… We're leaving tomorrow, right?" She then ran straight up the stairs to her bedroom to pack her things.

"Wait a minute…" Sawako's mother said cheerily, albeit confusedly. "Did she just say that she's going to come with us, dear?"

"I think so…" her husband replied in relief. However, his concern for his daughter overtook the feeling of happiness he had when he knew that they would all move as a family. "…but there's something fishy about this… and I think that her boyfriend has something to do with it…"

* * *

_**Last day…**_

It was about 7:30 in the morning and Sawako, as usual, was walking to school. The sky was bright and the sun was shining. There were barely any clouds in sight. As she clutched her book bag tightly with both of her hands, she passed by that place where she met Shouta Kazehaya, that guy who made it possible for her to make friends, despite her appearance and her nickname, Sadako. She looked at the tree that was there, all filled with cherry blossoms or _sakura_, one of the signs of spring, and smiled, probably as a way to remember the good times.

It was not only going to be her last day as a second year at Kitahoro High School, but it's probably going to be her last class here, as it was going to be her last day in Japan for now.

Tears began to well up in her eyes, most likely because of what she's going to miss. She's going to miss her friends, her homeland, and especially _him_. As they were about to fall, she mentally reminded herself that not to, as it's going to be a new start for her.

"_I shouldn't think like that…"_ she thought. _"It's going to be a new start for me… Besides, I already said that I'm going…"_

Then, she wiped that tears away and walked the rest of the way to her school for her last day of being one of the pupils there.

* * *

Then, after school, the school year ended and everyone in the class completed their second year. After the teacher left, everyone went up and about to go and chat with each other and do whatever they wanted to do before leaving, which probably consisted of chatting with classmates. Sawako heard Kazehaya say brightly, "Ryu! Let's go!" from somewhere behind her. She looked at both of them leaving the classroom before packing her things up. However, as she was about to, Kento Miura, that flamboyant guy with blond wavy hair who sat beside her, who also happened to be the class representative, tapped her shoulder.

"Sadako-chan!" he said animatedly. "A minute, please?" His hand gestured for her to walk towards him, which she did; unsure of what he was going to ask.

"Shisho, what is it?" she asked after being gestured.

"Are you going to the End of the School Year Party tonight?" he asked in his usual way; bright and cheery.

"_Ah… I completely forgot about that! I-I only knew about it before everything happened…" _Sawako thought, seeming worried about how she was going to tell him.

"Shisho…" she said slowly, yet nervously. "I-I have something to tell you… I-I…" She was still trying to think whether she should tell him quickly, in order to not draw so much attention.

"What is it?" he asked, seeming a tad curious about what she was going to say.

"I-I-I'm going to move to America in the evening…" she said softly, yet in a way that was clear enough for Kento to hear. "…so that's why I can't go…"

Then, there was a bit of silence between the two. Sawako was worried about how Kento was going to react, but Kento just seemed surprised about what Sawako said at that moment. Even though she said it quite softly, which caused many people not to hear it, knowing the nature of that cheerful and flamboyant class representative, one can predict on what was going to happen next.

"What?" Kento yelled loud enough for pretty much the entire class to hear, much to Sawako's unease. "Sadako-chan? You're moving to America tonight?"

Then, the entire class went to a standstill, as they just heard one of the loudest guys in the class say something truly unbelievable. Sawako then looked around the class, looking at the people staring at her.

First, she glanced at Joe and some of the other boys with him. They then started chattering quietly about what he said. She could even tell that they were talking about Shouta, since he was her boyfriend. Afterwards, she looked at Tomo and Ekko, who were just looking at her. They both seemed surprised to hear that one of their friends is moving away so suddenly, as it felt like only yesterday to them when she first befriended them.

She then glanced at Ayane and Chizuru, who just stood there, shocked about the news that came suddenly. Like Tomo and Ekko, it felt like only yesterday when they made friends with Sawako. It had just gone too quickly for them and now, they wouldn't be able to see her for such a long time.

They looked at her with worry in their eyes, wondering about how Sawako was feeling, especially about how she felt about moving, and how she felt about that note. As she looked at them, she could even hear them mutter her name quietly in confusion about what was going on.

Not wanting to see the pain on their faces, she just stood up and said, "Excuse me," before running out of the door in order to get away. As she ran out of the door, she noticed Kazehaya and Ryu walking back into the classroom, probably to get some of their friends to tag along with them. While she passed them, she muttered, "I'm sorry... everyone…" in a barely audible voice.

"_What's wrong with Kuronuma? She's been acting weird these past few days..." _Kazehaya thought as Sawako ran past him, feeling really concerned for her.

Then, all of a sudden, Ayane and Chizuru stood up and ran after Sawako running past all the other students in the classroom, including Shouta and Ryuu, who just looked at them confusedly.

After running out of the classroom, she sped through the hall and down the stairs before reaching her shoe locker. Even though she really wanted to spend time with her classmates before moving to America, she just wanted to get out of the school. As she quickly put on her outdoor shoes with one hand, she placed her school shoes back into the locker. When all of that was done, she was going to go out of the school doors for the last time, but then, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She slowly turned around and saw two of the people she didn't want to hurt.

They were her two best friends, Chizuru and Ayane, the girls she befriended during her first year, who became her best friends. She turned her face away, really not wanting to look at the pained look already on their faces. As she began to cry, both of them hugged her, trying to comfort her.

"Sawako," Ayane asked Sawako quietly. "Is it true? Are you really moving tonight?"

Sawako was only able to bring herself to nod her head up and down, not wanting to actually tell them that she was. While Ayane was about to cry, Chizuru was already crying like an overflowing dam.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Chizuru cried loudly. "If you told us sooner, we would've tried to do something for your last day!" She then yelled, "Why!" over and over to Sawako, who cried so much that she couldn't answer without gasping in the middle of the sentence. She was only able to softly and shakily say, "Sorry, Chizu-chan…"

After a few moments of crying together, Sawako managed to break the hug, as well as the silence by asking, "Ayane-chan, Chizu-chan, can you please not tell Kazehaya-kun… about me moving away?"

"Sawako…" Chizuru asked her in a serious manner right after Sawako asked that question. "Why don't you want Kazehaya to know?" Sawako didn't answer her.

Then, all of the feelings of sadness and frustration that were bottled up within Chizuru during that moment suddenly came out.

"Is it because of that letter?" Chizuru yelled at Sawako, causing her to flinch. "Is it?" While the tension in the air rose dramatically, Sawako just stayed silent. It was much like when Chizuru yelled at Sawako after she thought that she got rejected by Kazehaya earlier in the year.

"You know that letter is bogus, don't you? Both Yano-chin and I know that!" she yelled at her, more tears overflowing from her eyes. "Would you trust us or a piece of paper that was just left in your locker? You'd trust us, right?" Sawako didn't answer as she didn't know what to do about it, so she just sobbed.

"Does this mean that you actually believed that stupid letter?" Sawako was choking on her sobs, as she didn't want her last day to end this way.

"Chizu… Calm down…" Ayane told Chizuru, not wanting this to be like the last time she snapped at Sawako.

"Don't be stupid, Sawako!" Chizuru feelings were at greatest intensity as she cried at Sawako. "I-I-I hope you are going to do well in America!" She then stormed off, crying profusely as she ran through the halls. Sawako just stared at her, trying to wipe the tears that were constantly flowing through her face like a river.

"She snapped again…" Ayane said quietly as Sawako looked at her, teary-eyed. "She just had to cause such a commotion." Then, all of a sudden, she ran in the direction where Chizuru ran off to, most likely to go chase her. As Sawako looked at her, she quietly muttered, "Goodbye… Ayane-chan… Chizu-chan…" and ran out of the school doors, again, crying her heart out in the process.

A few minutes later, Sawako stopped crying, but she was still quite teary-eyed. She turned around to look at the school building one last time, watching the other departing students leave for spring break. As she looked at them, she remembered the times she spent there. There were many moments, some bad and some good, but since she would never step foot in there, she would obviously miss her friends, especially _him._

She then turned right back towards the school gate and started walking out of the school grounds. She was nearing the gate. Step by step, she got closer and closer until she was just one step away from it. One more step and then, she would never pass it again. As she paused for a second, she took a deep breath. Then, she took one last step and finally, she was just outside the school grounds. Then, when she was about to resume walking to her house, she heard something… rather, someone.

The voice was painstakingly familiar. In fact, it was easily remembered by Sawako. Knowing exactly who it was, she turned around swiftly to see who it was, her long, smooth, black hair flying through the wind.

"Sawako-chan…"

* * *

**TBC**


	5. End?

**Reaching You: One Day**

Chapter 4: End?

* * *

"Sawako-chan…" Kurumi told her, a hint of coldness in her voice. "What's the meaning of this?"

Kurumi was standing right behind the gate, standing straight while crossing her arms. She had a mean look on her face as she looked at Sawako's. Sawako just looked at her, wanting to know why she wanted to talk to her.

She was Sawako's rival for Shouta's affection a while back. She was jealous of Sawako to the point where she started spreading rumours about her only friends as if it was started by Sawako herself. She also tried to get Kazehaya to think that she liked Ryu during the sports festival, which didn't end the way she had hoped. Then, when she eventually confessed to the person she liked, not only did she get rejected, but she also brought the two closer together.

"What do you mean?" Sawako asked her, wondering what she was talking about.

"Is it true that Kazehaya dumped you?" Kurumi asked the girl. Sawako looked down to hide her face from her view.

"Yes…" Sawako answered her quietly.

"Idiot!" Kurumi yelled at Sawako, walking towards her. Sawako flinched at the sudden rise in her voice. "Can't you see it?"

"See what?" Sawako answered back, wanting to know where she was going with this.

"…that you're just being manipulated, you moron!" Kurumi yelled at the top of her lungs as a response to what Sawako said. However, tears started falling from her eyes once again, so Sawako paid more attention to her tears and not what she said. "Excuse me?" Sawako quietly said through her tears.

"I mean that Yu…" Kurumi screamed until she was interrupted by the person behind her.

"Kurumi, why are you harassing poor Sadako?" the person asked her mockingly. Sawako recognized that girl's voice despite wiping the tears from her eyes, while Kurumi turned around to see that it was Yuka, that girl who tormented Sawako a few days back.

"What do you want, Yuka?" Kurumi asked her, already agitated due to Sawako's denseness earlier.

"It has nothing to do with you..." she told Kurumi in that same tone. She then turned to the already crying Sawako and smiled. "Hey, Sadako? I heard that you're leaving… and just after you've been dumped by your boyfriend. Is that true?"

"Shut up!" Kurumi yelled at Yuka, who just ignored her.

"It's true isn't it…" she mocked her in a way that could be considered cruel. "How pathetic…"

As Sawako was trying to stop the oncoming flow of tears, she noticed a car driving around the corner. The back looked as if it was stuffed with moving boxes. As she looked into the car window, she noticed that her mother and father were in the car, gesturing for her to get in. In a rush to not worry them, she quickly wiped her tears on her eyes with her hand.

"Are they your parents?" Yuka asked her, a grin practically plastered on her face. "I guess you should leave now… and never come back…" Unwilling to answer her, Sawako just looked at the school one last time before turning away, not wanting to look at them. As she entered the car, she heard Yuka scornfully say, "Bye-bye, Sadako…" Then, Sawako closed the door as the driver began to drive away from Kitahoro High School, the one she used to attend.

"_I wish that it didn't have to end so soon…" _Sawako thought, looking at the back window seeing the school gate getting more and more out of view as the car drove further away.

* * *

The car that was carrying Sawako and her family veered towards the drop off zone of the airport. As both of her parents were taking the luggage out of the back of the car and placing it onto the baggage carts, Sawako was thinking to herself about what life was going to be like outside her home country.

Of course, she would miss living there, but what she would miss more are the moments she spent there. She reminisced back to when she was a first year student with practically no friends whatsoever, until _he _came into her life. That was when her circle of friends began to grow drastically.

She spent many moments with the friends she made, such as the courage test, the sports festival and the school festival. There were also moments when Chizuru would bug Ayane to go and eat ramen, and when she would hang out with them at her house, but the one moment that changed her life forever was when she met him. Those were the moments that she would cherish those moments dearly.

"Sawako!" her mother cheerfully said. "Let's go! We don't want to be in the back of the line for the airport check-in!"

"Coming," she told her mother as she was taking her last glimpse outside of the airport for a while. Then, she walked into the airport with her mom and her dad.

As they were pushing the baggage carts through the crowd, Sawako was wondering whether she should call Shouta just to say goodbye to him. While she pondered on the thought, her father put a hand on her shoulder to signal to her that they found the right check-in desk.

There was a long line up for that check-in desk, though. It felt as if it was going to take a while for them to be able to check-in. While they waited, Sawako looked at the phone in the palm of her hand, still contemplating. As she looked on it, she felt a vibration in her hand, since she was getting a call. She quickly answered the phone without looking at the caller I.D.

"Hello? Who is this?" Sawako asked the caller.

"Kuronuma!" said someone with an all too familiar voice, causing Sawako to gasp. "Where are you? I'm at the airport, looking for you!"

"What?" Sawako started to panic, grabbing her father's attention.

"Why didn't you tell me… that you were moving away?" Kazehaya was trying to get an answer from Sawako, since he figured out about this when Chizuru ran into him after she confronted Sawako.

"Kazehaya-kun… I have to move to America with my parents…" was Sawako's response, which, afterwards, Shouta quickly asked, "…but why didn't you tell me?" Sawako took the phone out of her ear to think for a quick moment, ignoring Shouta's pleas to try to get an answer.

She put her ear back on the phone. As Kazehaya was pleading, she politely interrupted him, causing him to stop. "I j-just don't want to bother you, s-since we both know… that we're not together anymore…"

All of a sudden, Shouta yelled, "What?" in shock to what Sawako just said. Did he just hear his girlfriend say that they weren't together anymore? "What do you mean we weren't together anymore? Just tell me where you are! I want to talk to you… in person!"

"Kazehaya-kun, please don't," Sawako pleaded over the phone, hoping that he would just accept the fact that she's moving, so that she wouldn't trouble him anymore."Kuronuma! Please listen to me!" Kazehaya screamed over the phone.

Then, her father quickly snatched the phone from Sawako's hand, startling Sawako. She could hear Shouta trying to plead with Sawako and he was getting sick of it, too.

"Hey, you!" he yelled, startling both Sawako and Shouta. "You're the one who made my daughter cry, aren't you?"

"Mr. Kuronuma, let me speak with Sawako. I want to fix this!" Shouta said over the phone, trying to get him to comply.

"No… You know what? Never speak with my daughter again or else." He bluntly warned him. Sawako was just watching her dad argue with him.

"Mr. Kuronuma, please listen!" he pleaded, but it was too late. Sawako's dad quickly snapped the cell phone in half, breaking it.

"Sawako…" he warned her. "Don't talk with the kind of guys that seem to love you at first, but would end up breaking your heart.

"...but my phone," Sawako pointed out to her father.

"It's alright," her father replied, knowing what his only daughter was feeling. "I'll get you a new one. Besides, moving to America would be a fresh start for you, so getting a new phone makes it more like a new start, right. Besides, it's for your own good."

"Yes, dad," Sawako sighed, cheering up a bit knowing that even though she wouldn't be able to talk on the phone with her friends back in Japan, she would be able to make new friends when she is in America.

"Sawako," her mother said handing her a plastic bag filled with an outfit for the flight, causing Sawako to face her mother. "You should change out of your school uniform, okay?"

"Okay," Sawako said, taking the plastic bag into her hands before turning around to find the women's restroom, which was really far from where they were.

After changing into that outfit, she placed her school uniform into the plastic bag and walked out of the restroom. As she walked through the crowd to get back in her parents, she began to ponder on what she did wrong to have Shouta break up with her. Was she too shy? Was she too innocent? Was she too selfless? All these questions came into her head.

"_I wish it didn't have to end so soon…" _she thought, not paying attention to the people around her. Then, all of a sudden, she literally bumped into someone, dropping the plastic bag that had her uniform in it. That caused her to finally become aware of her surroundings.

"I'm sorry…" she instinctively apologized and bowed towards the figure. After that, she looked up to see who she bumped into. However, afterwards, her eyes widened as she finally identified the person in front of her and that the person noticed her.

"I found you!" the person exclaimed and wrapped his arms around her. Sawako just looked at him right after finding out that he was Shouta, who said that he was in the airport earlier.

"Please don't…" was all she could mutter, causing Kazehaya to break the hug so that he could look at her straight in the eye.

"What did you say?" he uttered quietly, his voice beginning to be filled with hurt and pain. "You don't want to be with me anymore?"

Then, Sawako just turned around, trying to walk away from the pain. She did want to face him after their break-up. She just wanted to just go and hide somewhere. As she walked away, she felt a slight tug, which was Kazehaya holding her wrist.

"Please! Don't go!" Shouta cried out to her, causing passersby to notice them. Sawako tried not to cry, unwilling to make things worse.

"Kazehaya-kun… I don't want to stay here knowing that I would just be a burden to you… That's why you broke up with me, right?" Sawako told him quietly, her back towards him.

"…but I love you! Why the hell would I break up with you?" Kazehaya pleaded, shocking Sawako a bit. A few days ago, she thought that Shouta wanted to break up with her due to the letter that was placed in her locker. Now, he told her that he actually loved her and never wanted to break up. She began to feel somewhat relieved. However, that relief soon turned into sadness after Sawako realized that she was going to leave Japan soon.

"I'm happy to hear that Kazehaya-kun," she told him, "…but you and I both know that we could never be together. I already decided that I'm going with them." She was almost on the verge of tears.

"So with that, goodbye…" She then pulled her hand away from Shouta's and began to walk away.

Then, suddenly, she felt someone grab her leg. She then turned around to see that it was Kazehaya, kneeling on the floor, seeming extremely desperate, which was something that she had never seen before.

"Kuronuma! Please, listen to me!" Kazehaya begged. Sawako just turned her back towards him, trying to get away. Tears were falling freely from her eyes. Of course, she didn't want it to be like this at all. She never imagined that this would finally end this way.

She tried pulling her leg away from his grasp, but it wouldn't budge, as he was gripping it tightly, trying so hard to get her to stay.

"Please… let go…" she begged to Shouta, but it was no luck. He just wouldn't let go.

All of a sudden, some guy took held one of her hands and yanked her hard enough for Shouta to let go of her leg. Sawako's eyes widened as she wondered who pulled her away. She then looked at his face and gasped, knowing exactly who it was. It was the person who saved her from the Yuka and the others when she was waiting for Shouta back when he asked her out on a date.

"Let's go, Sawako-chan," he said warmly before walking away, holding Sawako's hand. All she could do was walk with him. Even though he was like a complete stranger to her, she just had a sense of security around.

"_How does he know my name?" _Sawako thought. _"I never told him my name before…"_

Then, she looked behind her to see Shouta, who was on the ground, staring at her completely shocked. As she stared at him, she just mouthed, "Goodbye…" and then faced forward with that guy.

"_Kazehaya-kun, I long for the day where we would be able together again…" _she thought as she walked away. _"…but I have to say goodbye…"_

Shouta just looked at Sawako as she walked away from him. He never imagined that she would be taken away from him by another guy. Still shocked and hurt, he just stood right back up and left that airport, trying to accept the fact that he may never see Sawako again.

"_Sawako…" _he thought, looking at her disappearing into the crowd. _"You may think that we'll never be together, but I swear that I'm going to reach you… one day."_

* * *

While they were walking, Sawako was wondering who the guy was. Even though she felt safe around him, she just wanted to know more about him, and possibly, if he really wants to, she would want to become his friend.

"Excuse me…" Sawako lightly tugged the back of his shirt, causing him to stop and turn around so that he can talk to her.

"What is it?" he smiled, causing Sawako's heart almost to skip a beat for a second at how kind he sounded.

"A-Are you the one t-that saved me f-from those girls?" Sawako asked slowly and awkwardly. In her head, she was wondering about the possibility that he wasn't.

He then took a quick breath and looked into her eyes. Afterwards, he told her kindly and soothingly, "If you're referring to when you were thrown into that puddle, then yes. What about it?"

Even though she had pretty much nothing to say, and she really wanted to think of something, she just ended up bowing towards him and said, "Thank you very much." He smiled at her and patted her head.

They continued walking until they reached the line up to the airport check-in, where she saw their parents approaching the desk. Then, that man let go of her hand so that she could go back with her parents to check-in. As their parents were talking to the clerk at the desk, she occasionally glanced at that man, who just stood there as if he was waiting for her. After checking in, Sawako's father gestured his wife and Sawako to walk with him towards the same guy Sawako walked with earlier.

"Thank you for finding Sawako," Sawako's dad told him. "I was worried that she didn't come after so long, so it was a good thing that I found you!"

"It was nothing really…" he told him. "I'm just glad that she's alright!"

While they were talking to each other, Sawako was wondering about how that man knew her father. As she looked at them, her father seemed to take notice of this and told her to come there.

"Sawako, I want you to get to know him!" he said to her, which made her a bit curious about why he wants that, even though she wanted to get to know that guy.

"Hello, Sawako-chan!" he said kind-heartedly. "I'm Daisuke Nakao." He put his hand in front of her, ready to shake her hand. "Nice to meet you!"

"You too…" she said kindly, yet quietly.

"You two know each other already?" Sawako's father interrupted, curious about how Daisuke met his daughter.

"Well, we met due to certain circumstances…" he didn't tell him about those girls, thinking that it wasn't a good time to talk about that.

"Well, it's a good thing!" her mother told said cheerfully. "…because we're going to live with his family, Sawako!" That last sentence caused to try to take in what she said, as this was news to her.

Even though Sawako was a bit shocked, as soon as the news registered in her mind, she became quite excited. Of course, it was because earlier, she wanted to get to know him, and now she's getting the chance to.

* * *

"All of the passengers of the 6:15 flight from Tokyo, Japan to Seattle, United States of America, please begin to enter the plane," said a voice from the airport's intercom, as all the people stood up and began to crowd around the gate, including Sawako, her family and Daisuke.

"Sawako-chan," Daisuke smiled as he told her. "Are you excited that you're moving to America?"

"I-I guess…" she said quietly. "I'm really going to miss my friends, though."

"That's alright," he reassured her. "I think it's quite normal to miss your friends in this situation."

"R-Really?" Sawako asked him, still unsure about what he said.

"I'm sure!" he told her. "When I moved to Japan with my family, I missed my friends really much, but since I was travelling with family friends, I felt better… like how you're travelling with me!"

"I see…" she said to him.

Then, everyone started to walked through the gate that would lead them to the airplane, so Sawako took her carry-on baggage and walked with her family into the airplane.

"_It's really happening… I'm leaving Japan…" _she thought, anticipating her new beginning in America.

Then, at her seat, Sawako started gazing at the window beside her, looking at what would be her last glimpses of Japan for a long time. As she looked outside, Daisuke, who sat right beside her put his hand on her shoulder, causing Sawako to turn around and face him.

"Are you ready?" Daisuke asked her refreshingly, washing all the stress of leaving her friends away. She then smiled genuinely and told him rather confidently, "Yes, I am!"

Then, the plane began to take off. As Sawako looked out of the window, she looked at the view of Tokyo as she became further and further away from Japan. As soon as they were above the clouds, Sawako then leaned back into her chair and smiled to herself.

"_Goodbye, everyone!" _she thought as she wondered what her life was going to be like.

* * *

**TBC**


	6. New Home

**Reaching You: One Day**

Chapter 5: New Home

* * *

As the plane was slowly landing right on the tarmac, Sawako looked outside of the window to see her new home. Of course, it was really foreign to her, as it was her first time going to America.

Then, as the staff gave the passengers their instructions via intercom, Daisuke gestured for Sawako to stand up, so they can begin taking their baggage in order to leave the plane.

"Are you ready to begin your new life, Sawako-chan?" Daisuke asked her with a smile on his face.

"Of course, Nakao-kun," Sawako softly told him, also smiling at him. "It's already too late to go back, anyways. I'm definitely going to miss my friends…" Sawako stopped in the middle of the sentence, suddenly remembering the time where Chizuru yelled at her. She then turned away from Daisuke.

"_I think I should just forget about them. I don't want to be a bother, after all."_ Sawako thought after remembering what happened a few days ago. Afterwards, she and Daisuke walked with the rest of the passengers to the airport.

After doing all the things they needed to do, Sawako's family and Daisuke then walked into the lobby with their suitcases and bags. In an instant, Daisuke found his family and told the Kuronuma's to see them.

"Welcome back, son," Daisuke's mother told him. "How was your trip? Did you meet the family that will live with us?"

"Of course, mom," he replied. "In fact, they're right behind me." He turned around and showed the Kuronumas to his parents.

"Hello," Daisuke's father greeted them, before turning towards Sawako's father. "I heard that you are going to stay at our house and that you're going to work for me, correct?"

"Yes," Sawako's father answered. "This is my wife and my daughter," he then introduced.

"Nice to meet you," Sawako said, instinctively bowing towards Daisuke's family. "My name is Sawako Kuronuma."

"You don't have to bow so low," his mother commented. "You seem like such a nice and proper woman. I think you should teach my children manners; especially this guy," she pointed her finger towards Daisuke as her husband and she laughed as Daisuke told her to stop.

"You have siblings?" Sawako asked, noticing that her mother implied that she had more than one child.

"Correct," he explained to her. "You see, on the day I was born, my mom gave birth to triplets; one girl and two boys. My older sister, whom you'll be sleeping in the same room with, is Yumi Nakao and I have a younger brother named…"

"Boo!" someone yelled from behind Daisuke, jumping towards him. That startled Daisuke a lot. He then quickly turned around to see who scared him.

That person appeared to be Sawako's height and was quite skinny. Like Daisuke, he was Japanese, but he had short, black hair that was spiked up. As Sawako looked at him, she then began to think that he was the crazy and fun-loving type of person, based on what he did to Daisuke at that moment.

"Seiji!" he yelled. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" he asked him cheerfully and rambunctiously. "I just scared you didn't I?" After speaking, he noticed Sawako behind Daisuke.

"Daisuke," he said with a huge grin on his face. "You come to Japan for one week and you've already picked up a girl! Way to go!" Daisuke then stomped on one of his feet to get him to stop, while Sawako instantly turned around to hide her face after hearing what he said.

"_What am I doing? I haven't stayed here for more than one day and I'm already causing misunderstandings!" _Sawako thought, while Daisuke spun her around to face her.

"Relax!" Daisuke reassured her. "Seiji's only kidding, you know."

"Hi," Seiji said to Sawako. "I'm Seiji Nakao, Daisuke's brother."

Sawako then walked towards him and bowed, saying, "Hello. My name is Sawako Kuronuma." She then shook his hand and looked at him. However, she was hunched over and her hair covered her face like curtains on a window. That caused Seiji to quickly yank his hand away from hers, so that he can step back slowly.

"What are you… that girl from 'The Ring'?" he screamed. All of a sudden, Sawako turned away, realizing what she unintentionally done.

"_Why do I have to scare people like that? I'm such a bad person!" _she thought.

"Seiji!" Daisuke scolded. "Apologize!"

Then, Sawako turned around to face them after hearing what Daisuke said. She then told him, "No, I'm the one who should say sorry." Afterwards, she bowed apologetically towards Seiji.

"It's okay," he told her cheerfully. "You weren't trying to scare me, after all." After taking a breath, Seiji then said, "Let's be friends, okay?"

"Of course," she immediately replied. She then smiled to herself, knowing that she already made two new friends.

* * *

After the conversation, Daisuke's parents quickly suggested that they go to their house. As they were walking to the parking lot, someone driving a car suddenly stopped right in front of them. The car was quite big, large enough to fit eight passengers, and had a shiny, red coat of paint on it. Wondering what was going on, Sawako was about to ask Daisuke, when all of a sudden, he stepped towards the car and opened the door.

"Come in, Sawako-chan!" he smiled, holding the door to let Sawako in.

"This is your family's car?" Sawako asked Daisuke, unaware that they had such a nice car.

"That's right, Sawako-chan!" Seiji butted in, wanting to be part of the conversation. "You should know that our family's filthy rich! That's why we have such a nice car!" he said proudly with a face and expression that said, "If you've got it, flaunt it!"

"Seiji, don't word it like that!" Daisuke scolded, not wanting it to seem like the family's trying to show off. He then turned towards Sawako and said, "Since my dad's running the North American branch of the company that your father works for, we are a bit better off than most families… but don't get the wrong idea! I'm not trying to show off!"

"It's okay," Sawako laughed at Daisuke, who was getting really nervous, since he might've said something like that.

As she smiled, Daisuke started to be mesmerized by her gorgeous face at that moment. Then, he quickly brushed the idea off and said, "Why don't you come in, okay?" Sawako then stepped inside the car and sat down.

When everyone and everything was in the car, Daisuke's father told the driver to go straight to their house. While the car was driving smoothly, Daisuke began to notice that Sawako had a sad face on. Wanting to know why she was feeling this way, he quietly tapped her shoulder in order to know what was going on. She then quickly faced Daisuke.

"Sawako-chan, what's going on?" he asked, seeming concerned about her. "You seem sad. Is everything alright?"

"It's nothing…" she quickly said, not wanting Daisuke to worry about her at all.

"It's fine," he told her. "You can tell me anything. I'll be a good listener, okay?"

Finding it sweet that Daisuke would do that, Sawako then decided to tell him why she was feeling down. After taking a deep breath, she said, "You know that guy who was at the airport… the one who was trying to keep me in Japan?" Daisuke nodded his head, knowing who she was referring to.

"A few days ago, we were going out, but I got a note in my locker saying that he wanted to break up with me," she continued her story. "Then, he tried to tell me that he really loved me, but something was telling me to just break it off with him. While he was trying to get me back, I told him that we should just move on from each other. Even though I said that, I still really love him deep inside my heart." Sawako looked down on her lap, while Daisuke put his hand on her shoulder.

"I see why you're sad," Daisuke tried to reassure her. "…but you should try to move on, before your feelings inside get worse. Do you know where I'm getting at?" Sawako looked at him, almost nodding her head in agreement.

"I know that I should move on before I really get hurt inside," she then replied. "However, why do I still feel like I want to reach him one day?"

After hearing what she said, Daisuke paused for a moment before speaking again. Then, he said, "It's pretty normal to feel this way after a break-up. I think you would be able to move on soon."

Sawako then hugged him, while saying, "Thanks for comforting me, Nakao-kun."

Daisuke then interrupted Sawako by telling her, "Sawako-chan, you can call me Daisuke-kun, okay?" Sawako quickly replied by breaking the hug and telling him, "I'll try, okay?" She then smiled at him genuinely, causing Daisuke to blush a little.

"_What am I doing?" _Daisuke thought. _"Am I starting to have a crush on her after only one or two days?" _He then quickly tried to brush off that feeling, with no success.

* * *

After roughly an hour of driving, the driver finally made it to the front of the house, which was blocked off by a gate. Then, as the gate opened, the driver then drove into the garage, where he parked the car. As he was getting the things from the back, Sawako noticed him and told him that she can take her backpack with her, so that he wouldn't have to do much work. Afterwards, Daisuke's parents opened the door to let everyone inside.

As soon as Sawako stepped inside, Daisuke offered to take her and her family on a tour of the house. As he showed them around, Sawako was amazed at how large the house was, as well as how modern it looked. There were granite countertops, granite flooring, numerous paintings, flat screen televisions and even a library and a home theater. To put it simply, Seiji was right when he said that the family's rich.

"Sawako-chan," Daisuke told her. "You're going to sleep in the same room as my sister, so I'm going to show you where it is, okay?" Sawako just nodded her head, letting him take her there.

After about a minute of walking, they finally reached a room. While Daisuke was knocking on the door, Sawako started looking at the huge mirror placed on the door, in order to fix her hair so that she won't end up scaring Daisuke's sister by looking like Sadako.

"Yumi," Daisuke told her. "Open up the door. She's here."

"Alright!" Daisuke's sister yelled at him rudely. "I'm coming! You don't have to be so impatient, Daisuke!"

All of a sudden, Daisuke quickly told Sawako, "By the way, she may come off as a bit of a snob, so I would suggest doing what she says."

"It's okay," Sawako told him in response. "You don't need to worry about me, Nakao-kun."

"I'll leave you here, then," Daisuke told her before turning around to walk to his room.

Afterwards, the person inside opened the door to let Sawako in. She was slightly taller than Sawako and had a slim outline. She had dark brown hair, similar to Yuka's hair colour, and had a hairstyle similar to a bob cut. She also had a bit of make-up on, probably since she was doing her make-up earlier.

"Come in," she told Sawako bluntly, as Sawako walked inside the room. "Leave your stuff on the floor."

After doing what she said, Sawako looked around the room. There, she saw a white vanity table topped with make-up, hair accessories and hair tools. There were also lots of artwork, including some clay and glass sculptures placed of a cabinet made of dark brown wood and clear glass. Sawako then sat on her bed, resulting in Daisuke's sister rudely telling her to sit on the floor. As soon as Sawako sat on the floor, Daisuke's sister then sat on her bed and began to speak to her.

"Before you ask, I'm Yumi Nakao," she told her harshly. "I'm not excited at all since you have to sleep in my room. In fact, I hate the idea, but I have to comply." Yumi then took a deep breath before speaking again. "Now, let's go over some ground rules, okay?" she said sassily. "Firstly, in my room, only speak when you're told to speak. Secondly, don't touch my stuff. Thirdly, don't use my stuff. Lastly, don't talk back to me whatsoever, alright?"

"But what happens if I don't follow them?" Sawako asked quietly and timidly, getting the impression that she was the type of person to be quite snobby, as Daisuke said earlier.

"I didn't ask you to speak, did I?" Yumi then yelled at her, causing Sawako to sweat as her heart started throbbing due to the nervousness.

"But I didn't..."

"So you're breaking the rules already," Yumi screamed at the poor girl. "Do you want to know what I would do to you? Is it that important to you? Why don't I show you?"

Yumi then grabbed Sawako by the hair, and pulled her to the door, despite Sawako's screams for her to stop. She then pushed her outside the room, making Sawako fall the floor outside. Yumi then took her backpack and began pulling out the contents so that she can throw them at her. After tossing everything into the hallway, she then threw the backpack itself to Sawako and slammed the door shut, locking it in the process.

"You're lucky that it's just your first day, Kuronuma-chan!" Yumi yelled at her. "Do it again and it will be much worse!"

While Sawako looked at all of her stuff that Yumi threw out, she began to pick them up, one by one and putting it in her backpack. As she was doing that, she thought, _"What did I get myself into?" _After putting her stuff into the backpack, she placed it on her back and walked around the house in order to clear her mind of what just happened.

* * *

**TBC**


End file.
